Communication systems are known to comprise a plurality of communication units, a limited number of communication resources that are transceived via a limited number of repeaters, and a communication resource allocator that allocates the communication resources among the plurality of communication units. The communication units are typically arranged in communication groups and may be located anywhere within the communication system. Of the communication resources, which may be either TDM slot locations, a frequency carrier, a pair of frequency carriers, or any other RF transmission means, one is selected to function as a control channel.
The communication system may comprise telephone resources which the communication units may access. As is known, the telephone resources may be of different types. For example, the telephone resource may be for a secure transmission, regular telephone transmission, or a data processing transmission, etc. When a communication unit requests access to one of these resources, the communication resource allocator has to process the request based on which type of telephone resource has been selected. To process a request, the communication resource allocator must first determine what type of telephone resource was requested and then determine whether a telephone resource of that type is available. Having to perform multiple steps to allocate telephone resources reduces the communication resource allocator's efficiency. Therefore, a need exists for a method that would allow the communication resource allocator to more efficiently allocate different types of telephone resources.